Question

EDIT AGAIN: someone posted the solution, but it has a wierd x I don’t understand why the x is there but now it works!! SOMEBODY EXPLAIN !!!

EDIT: I NEED THE LAST 12 RECORDS IN TIME, I USE ID INSTEAD OF TIME BECAUSE THE LATER ONES IN TIME ALSO HAVE A BIGGER ID, I GUESS THAT DOESN”T WORK BECAUSE OF THE PRIMARY KEY THING??

here is a mysql statement

"SELECT * FROM items WHERE item_section='$section'
 ORDER BY item_id DESC, rand() LIMIT 12"

I need to add the DESC because I want the most recently posted item corresponding to a larger ID number. What I want is the last 12 records, but for those 12 to be in random order. This isn’t working, what gives? I think I am just getting the latest 12 records NON-randomized.

Answer 1

If you turn what you said into sql, you get the answer:

SELECT * FROM (
    SELECT * FROM items
    WHERE item_section = '$section'
    ORDER BY item_id DESC
    LIMIT 12) x
ORDER BY rand()

You first select the most recent 12 records (aliased as x here), then you order them randomly… that takes two queries: one nested inside the other.